Applied Biological Research

This paper reports about the establishment of untransformed root cultures of Solanum trilobatum and S. wendlandii, and accumulation of solasodine contents in them. The adventitious roots, produced from leaf explants in Murashige and Skoog's (MS) medium, when inoculated in liquid MS medium continued their growth and differentiation. Dark conditions, agitation, addition of indole acetic acid and changes in ammonium nitrate and salt concentrations in growth medium affected the differentiation and growth. The medium containing quarter strength of ammonium nitrate (412.5 mg L⁻¹) produced 6–8 roots with a mean length of 6.5 cm in cultures of both the species. The accumulation of solasodine content in S. trilobatum roots in medium was similar (0.42%) to in vivo leaves whereas accumulation in S. wendlandii roots was higher (1.2%) than that of in vivo leaves. In presence of abscisic acid (0.1 mg L⁻¹), solasodine accumulation increased to 0.6% in S. trilobatum and 1.47% in S. wendlandii. Gibberellic acid @ 0.1 mg L⁻¹ improved growth without affecting the solasodine content. The solasodine accumulation in untransformed roots was better than in callus.